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A new Olympia for downtown?

We’re getting new details on what the new future home of the Detroit Red Wings may look like.

A few select Detroit business leaders have seen preliminary construction details of the new $450 million arena, including the $200 million surrounding entertainment district.

Sources tell 7 Action News reporter Jeff Vaughn the grand entrance to the yet to be named arena will face Woodward Avenue and will stand seven stories tall with five floors underground.

The underground levels will include team bus entrances from an additional lane to be added along I-75 southbound.

We know Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch is a fan of hockey’s past. One of his companies is called Olympia entertainment.

Sources tell 7 Action News from the corner of Woodward and Temple the peak of the new arena will rise and resemble the old Olympia Stadium.

Images from a site called www.newolympiablogspot.com has photos… and it matches what sources say the new arena may look like.

It will be an architectural throwback paying tribute to the old Olympia stadium where the Red Wings played from 1927 to 1979.

The website shows a red brick arena, with a high pitched roof… just like the Old Red Barn, the endearing name given to the stadium that once stood on Grand River.

But there’s more. The new arena and planned entertainment district surrounding it will draw a lot of people. Sources tell Vaughn they want those fans to walk to the new arena here along Park Avenue but how will they get to the other side?

Vaughn was told a land bridge spanning from Woodward Avenue to Cass Avenue, maybe even Grand River Boulevard will be built over I-75 to allow people to walk to the stadium.

It should be noted that this is not an official image released by the Red Wings, and the $450 million dollar arena proposal was just approved in June. Construction has not begun and the completion date is expected to be in 2017, and that’s an aggressive deadline.

The Red Wings tells 7 Action News they prefer not to speculate on the plans.